Twin Tears
by SaZumi
Summary: Alice Cross is a specially trained assassin. Akira Hanabishi is an orphaned student living in Tokyo. When a normal undercover mission takes an unusual turn, these two girls who know nothing of their past will get much more than they bargained for...
1. Prologue: When Babies Don't Cry

~Alice's PoV~

"_When an infant is born, it cries to have needs met. But what happens to the baby that doesn't cry? _

_My name is Alice Cross. I was one of those children that did not weep. After I was born, I was taken to the Institution; that is where you are harshly and critically trained and tested for different tasks. Once you are able to move on your own, and speak, you are processed into elaborate fields to make you an advanced human being._

_But, there is no love or compassion. I was tested at such high levels, I have advanced high above my age. I completed training at the age of seven. The full training normally would take sixteen years at the least. But at age ten, I was becoming too dangerous for the workers to control. I was in and out of mental and physical hospitals until I was fifteen. _

_The only thing I knew about life was weapons, study, and that this whole operation for not-crying children was run by the government; to use us as weapons in war. When I turned eighteen, my partner Kai Hatake and I were very advanced and controlled. Released from the Institution, we were given tasks of assassination and espionage in the modern-day city of Tokyo. _

_Now, I live on my own with Kai… And must go to a high school to complete an undercover mission." _

If only she knew what kind of twists and turns were waiting for her. What starts out a normal mission turns out to be a lot more than it seems…

~End Prologue~

**Author's Note:  
**Hello everyone! This is a collaboration project between me, Izumi, and a good friend of mine, Saya. Some of you from this site may already know me as IzumiTheMoogle. (If not, why not look me up when you have the spare time? XP Especially if you like One Piece or Naruto!)

This story is something that we've been working on for quite a while, and we decided to make an account together on FF and put it on, just to see what y'all thought! It will pick up in the next chapter we dish out, definitely. I hope at least some of you are interested though, and watch us for updates!

Oh, also! We draw pictures to accommodate the story as well, and we'll be posting them on a DA account shortly and as the story progresses. I'll give links to our DA profile as soon as I've got pictures up!

Reviews are more than welcome!! :D


	2. New Students

Alice rode to school on her jet-black crotch-rocket, arriving in the parking lot, the other students staring.

"_What a dump… Why would the government send me to a place like this?_" She thought to herself as she took off her helmet.

Walking to the building, she caught a glimpse of some girls whispering bad things about her. Her eyes narrowed. Alice walked over to them and put her hands in her pockets.

"You know, it's rude to speak ill of someone whom you don't know," She scowled as the girls trembled in fear. Added to her cold tone, the fact that she had heard them at all was frightening.

She walked into the school building and down a hall, ignoring the scared and angry looks she felt at the back of her head, "_This is not what I expected regular life to be._" She thought to herself.

Alice was looking down at her schedule after she had gotten it from the principal's office, memorizing over her classes. Looking up from the paperwork, she sensed someone coming around the corner.

Before she could do much else, she was run into by a young blond girl running down the hall. Alice's body suddenly flew back, and she caught herself on the floor with her hand. She did a back-hand spring to avoid hitting the floor. Standing back upright, Alice glared at the girl on the floor.

"Hey! Watch where you're going You could easily get a concussion if you fall hard enough on the floor after a 'run-in' like that," She said sternly, picking up her papers.

She held out her hand to help the staring girl up, and suddenly felt another presence, "You know, you're not the king of stealth, so you may as well quite while you're ahead… Kai," Her eyes flashed as she turned around, smirking at a boy behind her.

* * *

"Crap, crap, crap!" Akira muttered feverishly to herself as she tore down the hallways of her high school. People plastered themselves to the walls to avoid being hit by the rushed teen, some choosing a few 'choice' names to call her.

She didn't bother to try and apologize to anyone today, since she had only thirty seconds to get to Biology and already knew she wasn't going to make it in time.

"_It's not my fault_ _I fell asleep in History; I hate it!" _She thought miserably, "_And Ben didn't even bother to wake me up!" _Under her breath, she muttered, "Jackass…"

Akira rounded the corner at top speed, seeing one person in front of her but not having enough time to slow down. She crashed right into the dark-haired girl and stumbled to the ground.

As she fell to the ground, her mouth fell open. The girl she'd run into had just done a back flip to keep from falling! It took her a second to realize that a hand had been extended down to help her up. She quickly snapped her mouth shut and rubbed the back of her head nervously:

"S-Sorry about that!" She grabbed the girl's hand and hoisted herself up, "Thanks. I was kinda… In a hurry. Hm?"

Akira heard the girl say something about 'being sneaky' and saw her smirk over her shoulder. As she did, a tall and good-looking man stepped around a corner and smiled almost mystically back at the dark-haired girl. This guy definitely fit the stereotype "Tall, dark, and handsome." Just who WERE these people??

"Well, I can try, can't I?" The tall man said from behind the dark-haired girl in a low and smooth voice. He strode up to them with his hands casually in his pockets. Still, it almost looked like he was on guard… But what for? This was a public school!

Akira stood staring at the strange people before her for a few seconds before gasping loudly, "Oh crap! I'm SO late!" She then proceeded to dash past them and down the hall to her history class, throwing the door open just as the teacher was in the middle of role call. He closed his mouth and sighed as all the students turned momentarily to stare at Akira awkwardly after her abrupt appearance.

"Akira Hanabishi…" The teacher muttered with another short sigh.

"Umm… Here?" Akira responded with a nervous smile.

"Just take your seat," He shook his head.

"Yes, sensei…" Akira mumbled, taking her usual spot. She shot a dirty glare at Ben, who was sitting next to her. That jerk…

* * *

Kai glanced shortly over his shoulder at the blond-haired girl who had just darted past them and then turned around with a sharp and almost humorless chuckle.

"Quite different from the Institution, isn't it Alice?" He said quietly to his partner, knowing full well that they were not to speak of those years within the public's hearing radius.

* * *

"Kai! Do not speak of that place here! I agree that it is different, but all discussion of that should wait until we are back at the apartment. This school can definitely keep you on your toes…" Alice replied to Kai, realized that she had gripped him by his shirt.

"Man, that girl was strange; it was almost like I knew her," She said, puzzled as to where she had seen her before. Alice relinquished her grip on Kai's shirt.

Glancing at the clock, she realized she was late. Walking down the hall, Alice noticed her second class was biology. They had missed first period already, so they would proceed right to second. She walked into the classroom with Kai, and found the blond-haired girl at a middle desk, sitting next to a boy with spiky brown hair and emerald eyes. (He looked kind of like some random kid that might hang out at a mall)

The teacher glanced up to see Alice walk in, "May I help you Miss?" He asked, staring with a question in his eyes.

Alice looked at the blond-haired girl, then turned her attention back to the teacher, "I am the new student, sensei, Alice Cross. Forgive my tardiness. I had a 'run-in' with the wrong hall," She replied, holding out a piece of paper to him.

"Ah! You're the new arrivals; nice to meet you. I am Sensei Himura," He said, smiling and taking the paper and signing it. Mr. Himura handed the paper back to Alice, "I'm afraid the only seat I have left is the one in the middle, to the left of Miss Hanabishi," He pointed to the seat next to Akira.

Alice nodded and took her seat. Mr. Himura looked at the two girls with a curious expression on his face. Alice glanced up, an eyebrow rising, "Is there a problem, Himura-sensei?" She asked, rather annoyed with the attention from him and the rest of the class.

Mr. Himura blinked and suddenly asked, "Are you two related?" The two looked at each other with opposite expressions and glanced back.

"I'm an only child, Himura-sensei," Alice replied coldly.

* * *

"Ben Ishida," Mr. Himura called as he was finishing role-call.

"Here, Himura-sensei," Ben answered, smiling as he raised his hand. He looked over at Akira as she rushed in the door and sat down. He glanced over only to meet a truly icy glare.

"What? I was assuming you actually woke up for the bell. It's not my responsibility to wake you up," Ben said quietly, flinching toward her stare. He suddenly recalled something important. Gossips news.

"Have you seen the new students? There's that guy, I heard his name was Kai Hatake, and the smaller dark-haired girl who drives the crotch-rocket has an American name. I think it was, uh… Alice Cross. All the guys are nuts over her. Some of them noticed that she looks a lot like you," He explained, blushing as the thought of the two pretty girls crossed his mind.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked to the front of the room to see Alice in the doorway, talking to Mr. Himura, "See what I mean? She looks a lot like you; except her hair and clothing style of course," He said in a husky whisper.

"Akira? What's wrong?" He asked in concern when he saw her sudden frozen stare after Mr. Himura asked about the relationship between her and Alice. Ben looked at her with a soft gaze, knowing Akira was an only child and orphan, and seeing a surprised and hurt look on her face after Alice answered.

"They are serving chicken yakisoba with miso and noodles today! That should keep you awake," He said jokingly, knowing that food usually made Akira happy.

He smiled, but sneaked a glance at Alice. Her face was almost exactly identical to Akira's. Not only in appearance either; there was a world of hurt in both pairs of crystal blue eyes.

"_Who is she? Why does she look so much like Akira?" _He thought to himself as the bell rang.

On his way out the door, he bumped into Kai, stumbling a little, "Oh, sorry… I didn't see you there," He rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Hey, you're the new guy, right?"

* * *

"Yeah, I know," Kai said as Alice held him up by the front of his shirt. He brushed himself off for no apparent reason after she let him go, following her with his hands in his pockets.

"My name is Kai Hatake," He said smoothly and politely after Alice had introduced herself in the classroom, "I'm also sorry about our tardiness."

There were some muffled squeals and whispers from various girls in the room after he finished talking. Although not used to that kind of behavior- girls at the Institution wouldn't DARE do anything like that –Kai maintained his composed nature. Listening to Mr. Himura say there was only one desk left made Kai raise an eyebrow.

"Himura-sensei…?" He asked.

"Oh! Hatake, yes…" Mr. Himura stammered, "I'm sorry," He said sincerely, "I'm afraid Miss Cross took the last desk."

"It's quite alright," Kai gave a mysterious smile that made the whole room fall silent, "I can stand in the back of the room"

"Are you sure?"

"It's no problem," Kai reassured, strolling to the back of the room and leaning back against the wall. Eyes followed him.

"I'll try and have a desk for you tomorrow," Mr. Himura said, beginning to go into a lesson for that day.

Kai's brow furrowed when the issue came up about the likeness between Alice and that girl Akira. He knew that Alice didn't like unnecessary attention, so it must have been frustrating for her. Though Kai couldn't deny how much their faces _were _alike. Especially those eyes…

Kai stopped thinking about it when he felt his face get warm and decided to pay attention to class.

He kept a firm stance after class was over as he felt someone bump into him, glancing behind to see a spiky-haired boy quickly apologize fretfully.

"That's alright. Don't worry about it," He said with a smile, "Yeah, I'm Kai Hatake," He turned around all the way, holding out his hand, "And you are?"

* * *

Akira continued to glare at Ben, "You do it every day normally, don't you?!" She whispered fiercely. However, it was clear that he was more excited about the new students when he turned towards her with gleaming eyes, pouring out the latest gossip.

"She's… American, then?" Akira questioned, glancing over Alice once, "She doesn't look it…"

Needless to say, Akira could help but cast a couple sideways glances at Alice when she came and sat down next to her. There was something so… Familiar about her, and yet they'd never met. She kind of leaned back in her chair when Mr. Himura kept staring at them, but then froze when he asked if they were related. Hearing Alice's cold response made her forget that familiar feeling she had. There was no way they knew each other. She didn't answer Mr. Himura.

Akira heard Ben's concerned voice from the side and made an effort to smile when he mentioned lunch, "Yeah, thanks…"

She had tried not to be so touchy about her lack of family, but sometimes it was very hard. Especially in instances like this where she was brutally reminded of it.

Akira didn't want to think much of Alice anymore, but for some reason she felt a connection to the girl that felt like it couldn't… Shouldn't be severed. And she didn't know why. They were polar opposites!

She tried not to think about it too much and just focus on the yakisoba she was _totally _having for lunch soon.

**Author's Note:**

I meant to upload this one faster, but it took me a while to procure the 'book' that actually holds this story in it… XP

Just so you know, this is written in a role-play type format. I write for Akira and Kai, and Saya writes for Alice and Ben. Just FYI!

I hope you all liked this one. I know it starts out slow, but that's to get all of the characters introduced and fleshed out. And don't worry; there will be plenty of character development along the way. :D

Our DeviantArt account is up, but it doesn't have any pictures on it yet. (I know; fail) But they will be uploaded very soon, so fear not!

Thanks again for reading! Reviews are much appreciated! :3


	3. Who ARE They?

Alice watched Kai walk to the back of the room. As she listened to the lesson, she couldn't help but overhear Akira and Ben, "_Do I _look _American to you?!"_ She thought to herself, irritated with all the extra gossip.

As soon as the bell rang, she walked out the door with Kai, "How are your legs? I know you're used to it, but I would've given my seat to you," She said.

Kai was her only close friend from the Institution, so she always treated him with more respect than anyone else. She walked a little ahead of Kai to grab her tray in the lunch line.

Alice turned around to find Akira right behind her while Kai was talking to Ben, "_Are we ever going to stop running into each other? Why do I feel such a strong connection with this girl who is just a simple student? She even looks like me…" _Alice thought to herself as she progressed through the line.

She turned to ask for chicken yakisoba with rice and a large bowl of ramen. But her eyes widened when Akira ordered the same thing. Alice glanced over at Kai who was behind Akira. She walked to the register to pay and went to the nearest table.

"Kai, I think there is something strange about her. Dig up some information on her and report whatever you find back to me," She said when the two of them were eating together.

She looked at Kai, who was chowing down on his ramen. Feelings stares, Alice looked around to see everyone looking back at them, "I hate all this extra attention," She muttered coldly, giving a very icy glare at some squealing girls when they were looking at Kai. She continued eating until a few boys came up to her.

"What's your name, pretty girl? You wanna hang out with us? We won't bite," Said their cocky leader as they all leered at her.

Alice rolled her eyes and replied, "A person of my caliber would never stoop so low as to hang out with morons like you. Go away," She continued to eat, getting severely pissed off.

"Aww come on baby, we just wanna have a little fun with ya," He said, reaching out and foolishly touching her shoulder.

With a sudden reflex, Alice grabbed his wrist and twisted out of her chair. She sudden had the boy's face slammed down on the table with his arm twisted and raised above his body, holding him down. She leaned down to his ear, her foot holding him down, and whispered:

"Don't _ever_ come near me again. You're not the even least bit attractive, by the way,"

Releasing him, Alice stormed out of the cafeteria, _"Damn it, those kinds of boys are so irritating! Kai will take care of the rest, thank goodness… I should probably stay away before I teach them a real lesson."_

She sudden stopped in her thoughts as she sensed someone else, "Whoever you are, show yourself!" She said, looking at a shadow from the wall. She saw Akira walk out from behind the wall. Turning around, Alice's eyes widened, "Ms. Hanabishi? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the cafeteria?" She asked, composing her face.

"_Why didn't I sense her sooner? What's with this girl?" _She thought to herself. She could so many similarities between her and Akira's faces, it was… Scary.

* * *

Ben shook Kai's hand firmly. Although kind of nervous, he smiled, _"This guy acts friendly, but his hands are as rough as a sword maker's," _He thought as he replied to Kai's introduction, "My name is Ben Ishida."

He glanced over at Akira as she passed them to get in line, "So where are you and Ms. Cross from?" He asked as they walked down to the line. He noticed that the girls had ordered the same food, "_That was weird…" _He thought as he ordered his lunch as well.

"Hey Kai, did you see that? They barely know each other and yet you'd think they were closer," He mentioned as he walked over to the register.

After Kai's answer, he followed Akira to their usual table, "Hey, so don't you think it's weird how Ms. Cross and Mr. Hatake aren't related, but they came here together?" Ben asked her, "You two look almost like twins, yet you've never met before, but then there is also the fact that you're…" He stopped, careful not to say 'orphan', "And she said she was an only child, so maybe it's just a dumb hunch, but… I think those two are hiding something," He said as he began to eat.

Ben looked up to watch the Tatsuka brothers walk by to Alice and Kai and frowned, "Uh-oh. Alice better be either really tough or really resistant to avoid Sado… Or she could have Kai protect her," He said nervously as he watched the boys talk to her.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he saw Alice pin Sado down, whispering something in his ear. His mouth dropped, and he continued to watch as he addressed Akira, "Did you see that Akira!? Alice is fast and tough! Kai didn't even have to do anything!" He said ecstatically. Soon enough Alice was storming out the door, "Akira, I think you should follow her, maybe try to be her friend. I know she is like your total opposite, but that would be kinda fun to get an experience like that," He said, his emerald eyes filling with sympathy for both girls, "Akira, you might want to hurry. She's fast."

Watching Akira run out after Alice, Ben had to remind himself to stop blushing.

* * *

Kai shrugged to Alice's question concerning his legs, "They're fine. No need to worry," He chuckled, "I know you would've. That's why I offered to stand in the back before you could say anything."

After Alice had scoffed off his comment and gone to the front of the line, Kai was bumped into by Ben. He noticed that the boy's hand was slightly hesitant at first, but he smiled, nonetheless, "Nice to meet you Ben."

"We're from out of town," He said as he and Ben went to get their lunch. Needless to say, his speech about where he and Alice were from had already been prepared ahead of time, "A small town outside of Kyoto. I… Guess you could say we're country folk!" He smiled and chuckled light-heartedly, trying to make his story believable, which he already knew it was. Kai was a very good liar, and he knew it.

He noticed Alice and Akira getting the same lunch, _"She won't like that…" _He thought, grimacing inwardly. He could already see the frown plastered on Alice's face. But the similarities (though few in number) between the two girls intrigued him quite a bit. He was never once to believe in coincidence. He paid attention back to his lunch right as Ben spoke up. He nodded:

"Yeah, that is a little odd, isn't it?" He replied, being almost as confused as he sounded.

Kai followed Alice to a table where no one else was, sitting down loyally across from her. He laughed after his partner's comment about all the attention before shortly putting on a serious front, nodding to her request, "Sure," He smirked between his ramen noodles, "I was going to anyway," Old habits died hard, after all.

When those boys had walked over to them, Kai's mood had immediately went downhill. He didn't openly show it, of course, but as they kept flapping their gums he found it harder and harder to ignore them. He stopped eating his ramen right away and slipped a hand under the metal chair he was sitting on, gripping the edge tightly to try and keep his temper down. He only started breathing again when Alice stormed out after pinning one of them down. He didn't even notice the large dent in his chair after he let go, standing up quickly and shoving his ramen bowl towards the boy who was still clutching onto his arm and mumbling distastefully. He threw a sneer at Kai.

Kai smiled, "You know, the ramen here is just heavenly," He motioned for the boy to have his, "Go ahead…" His expression suddenly grew fierce as he gritted: "Knock yourself out!" Kai grabbed onto the boy's tie, slamming his head down into the ramen as he sneered that last phrase.

Whoops, laughter, and hollers echoed across the room as Kai quickly pivoted towards the door opposite of where Alice left. He couldn't stand to be around that filth any longer, and Alice needed to let off some steam. Besides, he took it easy on that jerk; he was a pull away from breaking the table with the freak's head.

Needless to say, that stupid boy wouldn't be waking up for, well… A couple hours maybe. Kai didn't know.

Nor did he care.

* * *

Usually, food made everything better for Akira. She let out a long breath after class was over and practically raced out of the room so that she could get all of her favorite things before they ran out; chicken yakisoba was very popular.

Her brow furrowed just a little when she saw that Alice was actually ahead of her in line. When did she-- Akira shook her head. She had to stop thinking about this girl! She didn't even know WHY she was thinking so much about her!

It only creeped her out even more when Alice ordered the exact same thing that she did. A moment was spared for staring with wide eyes and the new girl before Akira sped off to her table.

Coincidence… It HAD to be coincidence.

She hurriedly sat down by Ben, slurping up her noodles in frustration. She sighed shortly after she heard him lightly chuckling, "It shouldn't be as frustrating as it is…" She muttered miserably.

Akira looked over her shoulders as Ben mentioned the Tatsuka brothers, allowing a sneer to settle on her features at seeing them. What she'd give to punch their freakin' lights out…

In the amount of time it took Alice to pin Sado's arm back and slam his face down to the table, Akira barely had time to blink. She heard Ben yelling excitedly about what had just happened, but found she was too focused on staring at Alice to respond.

That was when Kai slammed Sado's face down into his ramen down, nearly breaking the table and knocking the kid out. He proceeded to walk quickly but calmly out of the lunch room. Akira dropped her chopsticks and whirled around to face Ben:

"They _cannot _be human!" She half-yelled at him. However, her gaze softened when she heard what Ben had to say, "Yeah, you're probably right," Akira wanted to see Alice, but at the same time she was just a mite afraid of what might happen… But she needed to know just who this girl was.

Akira stood up, "I'll see you next class, 'kay Ben?" She pivoted around and jogged out through the door Alice ran out of. At first she tried to be stealthy, but that attempt was quickly thwarted after Alice commanded her to show herself.

"Er… Hi," Akira half-waved awkwardly, "Yeah, sorry, but… I just wanted to know if I could well… Talk to you," She noticed the disbelieving look on Alice's face and continued, "This is kinda- no, it's really weird, but… I feel, somehow, like you're… Familiar. And I don't know why. I was hoping you would," She smiled sheepishly.

**Author's Note:**

**Izumi here! Sorry for not updating in a little while… I've been really busy lately. XP **

**Anywho! I hope you all enjoyed this little chapter! It was pretty short, but don't worry! They'll get longer and better! This one was basically to get to know the characters a little better. It's starting a tad slow, but it'll pick up soon! Never fear! **

**Oh! And we have our DeviantArt account up finally! I have to add pictures from this chapter still, but we have ten drawings up already, if you feel interested! :D Here's the link:**

**Alice - akira . deviantart . Com**

**You'll have to remove the spaces, of course, because FanFiction- for some unknown reason -doesn't like links… O.o **

**Enjoy! Reviews are MUCH appreciated! **


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